Pray For Me, Then Kiss me

CHAPTER 6: The Cost

We ran through the back door.

My hand was still in his. Burning. But not me. Him. The curse was eating him from the inside out and he wouldn’t let go.

"Elias, let go!" I yelled. We hit the courtyard. Cold air. "You’re killing yourself!"

"No." He was pale. Sweating. Lips almost blue. "It’s the curse. I’m taking it. All of it."

We hid in the bell tower. 40 steps up. He collapsed on the last one.

"You shouldn’t have done that," I whispered, cradling his head in my lap. His hair was damp. "You’ll die. And for what? For me?"

"Then die with me," he said. Eyes barely open. But his hand found mine. "Because I’m not letting them have you. Not again. Not ever."

Gold light was fading from his skin. Fading from his fingertips. Like he was being erased.

Panic hit me. 200 years and nothing scared me. But this did.

I did the only thing I could. The thing that would damn us both.

I kissed him.

Shadows aren’t supposed to have healing. We only take. But desperation does weird things to rules. To curses. To people.

The light jumped from him to me. Then back. Like a circuit. Like a promise.

We both gasped. Pulled apart, foreheads touching.

"What did you do?" he asked. Voice hoarse.

"I shared it," I said. Tears on my face I didn’t know were there. "The curse. The gift. All of it. Now it’s ours."

He touched my face. This time, it didn’t hurt him. It warmed him.

"Then we’re bound," he whispered. "To each other. To this. To whatever comes next."

Outside, we could hear the hunters searching. Boots on stone.

And inside, a priest and a Shadow were bound by a kiss and a curse. And neither of us regretted it.

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